A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers

New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. First edition of the poet Nancy Willard’s dreamlike tribute to William Blake, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, signed by all three. Inspired by the childhood babysitter who recited “Tyger, Tyger” to her, Willard imagines Blake as an innkeeper with a staff of dragons and angels, and a tiger asleep on his hearth. “On windy days and moonless nights, / Blake wears a suit of shifting lights. / The tailor now has grown so clever / he stitches light and dark together.” A Visit to William Blake’s Inn won the Newbery Medal for 1982, and was named a Caldecott Honor Book that year as well: it remains the only book to receive both Newbery and Caldecott honors. A fine signed copy. Slim quarto, measuring 10 x 8 inches: 45, [1]. Original beige cloth spine stamped in gilt over blindstamped terracotta boards, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket with no Newbery Medal or Caldecott Honor Seal, ivory speckled endpapers. Color illustrations throughout text. Signed by Alice and Martin Provensen on the half-title, and by Nancy Willard on the title page. (Inventory #: 1003966)